Gonzales - Solo Piano (CD 2004)

Chilly Gonzales (or Jason Beck to his parents) is nothing if not brave when it comes to trying on new musical styles - so far his career has encompassed indie rock, electro pop, hardcore rap and more recently lush disco sounds. This 2004 album is Gonzales' excursion into the world of classical piano music. Moving from Berlin to Paris, he soaked up the atmosphere and poured it out through his keyboard in an ambient melodic style that strongly references Erik Satie's 'furniture music' with just a bit of Debussy, Milhaud and a few extra jazz stylings thrown in.
This purely instrumental project is carried off with some aplomb, although it's occasionally let down by some fairly rudimentary recording quality, not to mention the occasional bum note. Be sure you have a taste for the piano works of the above mentioned composers before buying and be warned that this is unlike Gonzales' more mainstream work - if you're a fan of classical piano music with a strong French feel however, I think you're going to be very pleasantly surprised by this album.